The quirky from book 1 doesn't hold so much in book 2, but boy howdy is the dark still there. I'm not going to lie, while I was intrigued by the Burryman Festival, the description of the Burryman's ... costume? creeped me right out. McPherson's detailed description made me feel claustrophobic and I could totally understand why children would cry upon seeing him.

Dandy continues her unorthodox (for the times) partnership and I'm curious how the author is going to shape this investigative duo in future books. I nailed the whodunnit part, but the ending... ugh, I did not see the ending coming and I was more than a little surprised and impressed that McPherson went there in what is ostensibly a cozy historical.

Will definitely read more of the series - and not just because I have the books. ;) ( )

'Sounds like the author has read their Wodehouse,' said my spouse after I read him the narrator's dilemma of being chosen to judge the Bonny Baby competition at the fair. Yes! I am not as fond of the darker melodramatic themes in this story. But there we are. ( )

I read the first book in the series, and wasn't terribly thrilled - but I really liked the premise, so I figured I'd give it another go with the second. Unfortunately, the second wasn't any better. Dandy is just too twee for my taste, and the story is too twining and incoherent. I'll have to pass on the rest of the series. ( )

Quite good, and getting stronger as it went on--more touching than expected, given the author's light touch.

(Note: 5 stars = rare and amazing, 4 = quite good book, 3 = a decent read, 2 = disappointing, 1 = awful, just awful. There are a lot of 4s and 3s in the world!) ( )

I had to look it up, the Burry Man is a real thing, a real thing that still happens. I had a vague memory of seeing something about it on TV once but a quick google told me everything. Coincidentally when I picked this one randomly from the shelf I had no idea where or what it was about, but just before going to bed a documentary was on TV about the Forth road bridge, which I had seen earlier that week and I thought nothing of it, until I started to read and realised that this was about the place that was changed utterly by that bridge, Queensferry. Life can be a bit strange sometimes.

Anyway, this is a tale about one of the Burry Men, who dies after the event, of an apparent heart attack. Dandy Gilver's host, an old friend not long moved to the place, asks her to look into it, it all sounds strange and unusual and as she digs she finds a lot of stress and pressure in the village and a lot of things going on under the surface that are a bit of a mess.

Interesting but I didn't feel like it flowed quite right. Still curious about what happens next with Dandy. ( )